{{UScong2012toc}}{{tnr}}A total of '''468 seats in the [[U.S. Congress]]''' were up for election on November 6, 2012.

{{UScong2012toc}}{{tnr}}A total of '''468 seats in the [[U.S. Congress]]''' were up for election on November 6, 2012.

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Heading into the election, Democrats controlled the [[U.S. Senate]] while Republicans were the majority in the [[U.S. House]]. During the presidential election year, partisan dominance of both chambers of the [[U.S. Congress]] was at stake. As a result of the election, Democrats increased their majority in the Senate while chipping away at the Republican majority in the House.

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Heading into the election, Democrats controlled the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] while Republicans were the majority in the [[U.S. House]]. During the presidential election year, partisan dominance of both chambers of the [[U.S. Congress]] was at stake. As a result of the election, Democrats increased their majority in the Senate while chipping away at the Republican majority in the House.

A total of 468 seats in the U.S. Congress were up for election on November 6, 2012.

Heading into the election, Democrats controlled the U.S. Senate while Republicans were the majority in the U.S. House. During the presidential election year, partisan dominance of both chambers of the U.S. Congress was at stake. As a result of the election, Democrats increased their majority in the Senate while chipping away at the Republican majority in the House.

U.S. Senate

The 33 Class 1 U.S. Senate seats were up for election. Of those 33 seats, 23 were held by Democrats and 10 by Republican senators. Democrats needed to win 21 seats to retain their majority while the GOP needed to win 14 seats to win back the chamber.

Defeated incumbents

No officials have been added to this category yet.

US Senate Margin of victory

There were a total of 33 seats up for election in 2012. The following table shows the margin of victory for each race winner, which is calculated by examining the percentage difference between the top-two vote getters. If the race was uncontested, the margin of victory is listed as 100%. Some general facts:

Defeated incumbents

No officials have been added to this category yet.

US House Margin of victory

There were a total of 435 seats up for election in 2012. The following table shows the margin of victory for each race winner, which is calculated by examining the percentage difference between the top-two vote getters. If the race was uncontested, the margin of victory is listed as 100%. Some general facts:

30 races (6.9 percent) had a margin of victory of less than 5 percent. Of those 30 races, 18 were Democratic winners while 12 were Republican.

33 races (7.6 percent) had a margin of victory between 5 and 10 percent. Of those 33 races, 15 were Democratic winners while 18 were Republican.

87 races (20 percent) had a margin of victory between 10 and 20 percent. Of those 87 races, 23 were Democratic winners while 64 were Republican.

285 races (65.5 percent) had a margin of victory of greater than 20 percent. Of those 285 races, 145 were Democratic winners while 140 were Republican.

The fewest votes were in Texas' 29th District, with only 95,611 total votes. Incumbent Gene Green (D) faced two third-party candidates in the general election.

The most votes were in Montana, with 479,740 votes cast. Montana has a total population of 998,199 -- which is roughly 250,000 above the average district size in states without single districts. Because Montana has only one district for the whole state, its voters per district is higher than the rest of the country. The average size of each district is 709,000. The second-most votes cast came in Colorado's 2nd District, with 421,580 total votes.

The average margin of victory of all congressional districts was 31.85%, meaning that on average the winner of each race received nearly twice as many votes as the top opponent. Average MOV for Democratic winners was 35.7%, while the average for Republicans was 28.6%.

The average number of votes cast per district was 281,917, yielding an average voter turnout of 39.76%.

Margin of Victory in 2012 United States House of Representatives Elections